October 27, 2012

By the time you read this, hopefully I should be finishing the Great Pumpkin Chase 5K. I'm going into this somewhat unprepared, but I'm choosing to treat this as a fun run for charity and not worry about my time. It should kick-start my running again, however - and hopefully it will since I also signed up for the Carlisle YMCA Turkey Trot also for the second year in a row.

Buddha Buddha grand opening is Monday at 4:30 p.m.

Last evening, Jamie and I checked out the opening of Buddha Buddha. We sampled from their martini menu (inventive) and had a few snacks from their food menu -- though we're looking forward to returning for their Asian tacos. I'll have a fuller post on this coming up, stay tuned.

October 25, 2012

Remember the 90s? It seems so long ago, but I will never forget readying my blank tapes in my recorder and waiting to capture my favorite song when it played on the radio.

Flash forward to mix CDs - they never had the same ring to them as a "mixtape," but we spent countless hours downloading songs on Napster or BearShare just to burn that mix cd (which took another hour) for your crush full of songs that reminded you of your relationship.

Today it's rare that anyone carry music on anything other than a phone or similar portable device, and we don't really do that anymore. Is the art of the mixtape lost? I say no. Instead, what we do now is something I like to refer to as "the Art of Playlisting" - creating collaborative and shareable playlists to use on our computers and mobile devices. Here are some of my favorites:

This week I made a new goal: Organize/minimize enough to have time to read magazines. I'll let you know how that goes.

I'm exhausted, but we have another fairly packed weekend ahead. Tomorrow I'll get a sneak peek of Buddha Buddha, then Saturday morning, it's the second anniversary of my first 5K, The Great Pumpkin Chase. I haven't really been running much lately, but Kelly made me sign up again, so hopefully I don't completely embarrass myself.

2011 Great Pumpkin Chase 5K. Hopefully it's warmer this year.

Saturday afternoon, I'm heading down to meet up with Ken at Characters Pub. He shared highlights of the menu, so I'm pretty excited I'll be negative a couple hundred calories upon my visit.

On Sunday, the stupid NFL has ripped area Steelers fans from watching our own damn team on television, so we're meeting dad at Moe's this time. Other recommended spots: The Speakeasy, any Arooga's (go early), or if you're a 'Skins fan, Zembie's is your home base.

I didn't compete this weekend, but I definitely felt a bit of regret when I woke up on Sunday and wasn't pinning a bib to my shirt. The half has always been my favorite distance. I ran my first half in September 2010 and never looked back. My favorite thing about halves is that they require a bit of discipline, but training doesn't take up as much time as longer races, like marathons or ultras.

October 23, 2012

For as long as the off-season seems, that's how quickly football season seems to fly by. We are already more than halfway through the college football season and nearing the midway point of the NFL season.

Here's a few thoughts on Penn State's biggest game so far in the Bill O'Brien era and Bishop McDevitt honoring their former star and current all-pro running back LeSean McCoy.

Penn State hosts undefeated Ohio State on Saturday

Every so often, it happens that the best teams don't end up playing for the championship. Upsets, injuries and even computer-generated rankings have cost top teams a chance to play for a title. However, I cannot imagine there was ever another situation where the two best teams in a league were both ineligible to appear in the championship game.

This coming Saturday, Happy Valley will play host to what many are considering the unofficial Big Ten championship game when the scorching hot Nittany Lions host the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. Ohio State is in the final year of their postseason ban, while the Nittany Lions are in the first year of a four year ban -- making both ineligible for the Big Ten Championship Game this season.

October 22, 2012

In the local wine world, it's harvest season. This weekend, you can meet the winemakers of the Hershey Harrisburg Wine Country and learn about each vintner's harvest during the Fall Festival.

You'll get the chance to taste pre-wine "just pressed" juice from the 11 participating wineries' fall harvest. Plus, enjoy an exclusive VIP experience and tour at each of the vineyards and take home a Fall Harvest souvenir glass. Finally, participants also receive a 10% discount on all purchases.

Registration begins at 6 p.m. on the first floor of Ceoltas Irish Pub. For the $20 fee, you get 1 free draft OR 1/2 price well drink at each crawl location, a color-changing mug and other freebies - plus end-of-the-crawl entertainment with Alternative Education and bagpipers to lead the way.

The crawl begins at 7 p.m. at Anthony's Micro Pub, then moves to the Brick Haus, back to Ceoltas, down the street to McGrath's Pub, stop over at Molly Brannigan's and ending at the Pep Grill.

To help spread the word, the HSPDPA is giving away two (2) Novemberfest Pub Crawl tickets to one lucky reader.

We were all nervous, but managed the almost half-hour segment without incident. Nell is a talented host and made us feel very comfortable. You can catch the show tomorrow at noon and 4 p.m. on WITF-TV or watch it online. We start around the 26 min. mark.

Then, last night was Witches Night!

Spooky ladies!

Today, I'm off to the gym and to run errands before the LeadersHYP Summit networking event at ABC.

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